Citations:figging

soap-related sense

 * 1907, George Henry Hurst, Soaps, page 302:
 * The aim of the soft-soap maker should be to produce a clear, transparent soap, pale in colour, fairly free from odour, not too alkaline in character, and in some cases "figging" well. Figging in soft soap is a peculiar appearance — streaks of white usually found to strike inwards from the sides of the vessel holding the soap.
 * 1912, William Theodore Brannt, Carl Deite, Alwin Engelhardt, The Soap Maker's Handbook of Materials:
 * In boiling natural fig soaps it is of course first of all necessary to see that the potash and potash lye are perfectly free from soda, because on this depends the good figging of the soap. The slightest content of soda causes the soap to become inert, or at least the formation of a torn feathery figging.